Support racks are typically mounted on the exterior of a motor vehicle to support bicycles, minibikes, skis, surfboards, and the like, above the ground. Rear-mounted racks are constructed of rigid frame members, having arms extending horizontally therefrom for supporting objects, and they are usually mounted on the rear bumper of the vehicle, or on the trunk lid, or a combination of both. Several racks have also been developed for use on the top of a vehicle. These racks are usually held by straps extending to the rain gutters or door recesses of a vehicle.
While these support racks have been adequate for their purposes, they have several drawbacks. Because the rear-mounted racks are fixedly mounted on the rear of the vehicle, they restrict access to vehicles having rearward-opening doors, tailgates, or lift gates, such as sport/utility vehicles, vans, pickup trucks, campers, and the like. When mounted on the rear of cars, these racks may also interfere with the opening of or access to the trunk. In addition, difficult lifting is frequently required to place heavy objects on and remove them from the support arms.
The cartop racks have the drawback of requiring that the article to be transported be lifted on top of the vehicle. This can be quite difficult on a tall vehicle, such as a sport/utility vehicle or van, especially when a heavy or awkward object is to be carried, such as a bicycle. Other drawbacks include extra drag on the vehicle, especially at high speeds; increased effective vehicle height resulting in decreased overhead clearance, a serious problem when entering a parking garage; and marring of the vehicle surface due to contact of the rack and straps.
Several devices have been proposed for overcoming these disadvantages. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,129, issued to Eisenberg et al. on Aug. 23, 1983, discloses a pair of horizontally projecting arms mounted to the crossmember of a T-shaped support member that in turn is pivotally mounted to a vehicle. A substantial drawback to this device is that, as the T-shaped support member is pivoted downward, the pair of arms angle downward, allowing an object supported thereon to slide off. Even if the object were firmly fastened to the support member, it would not be held in an upright position as the support arm is pivoted downward. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,835, issued to Cole on Jan. 13, 1987, a carrier apparatus for carrying an all-terrain vehicle is disclosed having a frame pivotally mounted to a horizontal beam that is attached to a trailer hitch. An all-terrain vehicle is mounted to the frame and supported in a vertical position for transportation and then lowered to a horizontal position for loading and unloading. An obvious drawback to this device is that vertically positioning the all-terrain vehicle, or any motorized vehicle, for that matter, can easily cause fuel, oil, and cooling liquids to drain from the engine, creating a fire hazard and the potential for damage and injury. In addition, the rigidly mounted support arms will not hold a bicycle or motorcycle in an upright orientation as the carrier apparatus is pivoted between the vertical and horizontal orientations.
Consequently, there is a need for a support rack that can be mounted to the rear of a vehicle and that not only allows access to the rear doors of the vehicle without requiring removal of the supported objects and the support frame, but also maintains the objects in an upright position as the frame pivots between a horizontal or lowered position, with the object on or close to the ground, and a vertical or raised position, with the object supported above the ground.